By Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team unleashed its best total effort of the season on Thursday at the most opportune time – knocking off the defending national champions in the 2016 NJCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
The Blue Dragons had one of their most prolific offensive performances in their illustrious NJCAA Tournament history as seventh-seeded Hutchinson ousted No. 2 seed and 2015 national champion Northwest Florida State 116-90 at the Sports Arena.
Now 31-4, the Blue Dragons will face No. 11 seed Ranger College (31-5) in the second national semifinal at 8 p.m. on Friday. Eighth-seeded Gillette College (32-1) and 13th-seed Salt Lake (29-8) will clash in the first national semifinal at 6 p.m.
Hutchinson will be making its first trip to the national semifinals since the national championship year of 1994, and the program’s 10th overall appearance in the NJCAA Tournament semifinals. The Blue Dragons are 10-1 in the quarterfinal round of the national tournament. HCC is the first Region VI team to reach the semifinals since Seward County in 2012.
The 116 points scored on Thursday was the second most ever scored by Hutchinson in the NJCAA Tournament. HCC scored 120 points against Miles City in 1969. The 26-point margin of victory was the third-largest for the Blue Dragons in the tournament. HCC’s largest margin of victory came in 1958, a 34-point win over Snead-Boaz (Ala.). Now with 43 all-time tournament wins, Hutchinson is fifth in that category in tournament history.
The Blue Dragons’ 116 points are also a 2016 tournament single-game high.
The Blue Dragons dominated the first half by shooting 58.3 percent, holding the Raiders (27-6) to 25 percent shoots and out-rebounding the nation’s No. 1 rebounding team 23-17 in building a staggering 55-28 lead by halftime.
Leading 17-12 with 12:50 to play in the opening half, Hutchinson took full control of the game with a 19-2 run over a stretch of 4 minutes, 53 seconds. When Shakur Juiston scored with 7:43 to play, HCC led 36-14. The closest that Northwest Florida State got after that was 17 points.
Freshman Samajae Haynes-Jones scored a career-high 33 points – the second-best single point total by a Blue Dragon this season – scoring 16 points in that decisive first half. Haynes-Jones knocked down 11 of 18 total shots, going 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also added a career-high six assists.
Sophomore Bashir Ahmed posted his second-straight tournament double-double and 15th of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds, a career-high seven assists and four steals. Ahmed moved past Teko Wynder (1971-73) into sixth place on the Blue Dragon career scoring list with 1,298 points.
Juiston had 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting with five rebounds.
Sophomore Akbar Hoffman scored 17 points, hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He also had five rebounds. Hoffman moved past Nate Brumfield (2005-07) into 19th place on the career scoring list with 921 points.
Sophomore Keanu Pinder posted is sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Blue Dragons posted a season-high point total, scoring at least 116 points in a game since scoring 120 in 1998 against Kansas City at the Jayhawk Shootout. Hutchinson shot 58.3 percent for the game (42 of 72), hitting 7 of 14 from 3-point range and 25 of 33 from the free-throw line. The Blue Dragons also tied a season high with 24 assists. The Dragons outrebounded the Raiders 49-36.
Defensively, Hutchinson held Northwest Florida State to 39.2 percent for the game (31 of 79). That’s the 25th time this season HCC has held an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting. The Raiders became the 10th team this season to hit 10 or more 3-pointers against the Dragons going 10 of 33.
Daryl Edwards had 15 team-high points for the Raiders on 6 of 19 shooting. Moustapha Diagne had 12 points.
Northwest Florida State outscored HCC 62-61 in the second half, the highest single half for Hutchinson this season. The Blue Dragons reached the 100-point mark for the fourth time this season and the sixth time in NJCAA Tournament history at the 4:59 mark on two Hoffman free throws. HCC’s largest lead was 36 points at 106-70 with 3:59 remaining in the game.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 43-23 all-time in NJCAA Tournament history. … Northwest Florida State is the 54th different opponent the Dragons have faced in the NJCAA Tournament. … This was HCC’s all-time win No. 1,715. … The 31 wins this season ties for the fourth most in program history with the 1986, 2004 and 2013 teams. … 2016 Blue Dragons tied the 1992 team for fifth most season free throws at 712. … HCC head coach Steve Eck won his 195th game on the Blue Dragon bench. … Bashir Ahmed moved into 10th career field-goal list (106) and 10th in single-season points (705). … Samajae Haynes-Jones moved into ninth in freshman scoring (548), 10th in freshman field goals (196) tied for 10th in 3-pointers (47) and 10th in freshman free throws (109). … Ahmed became the 10th Blue Dragon in history with 100 career 3-pointers. Akbar Hoffman has 99 career treys.
(By Steve Carpenter, Hutchinson Community College Sports Information Director)
Moberly vs Hutchinson
Hutchinson Head Coach and Players Quotes
Head coach Steve Eck
Opening statement …
“We played with high-level energy. If not, we would be in a world of trouble. We knew (Northwest Florida State) shot a lot of 3s. I told the guys that we were kind of like the underdogs and to go out there and compete. Our guys went out there – Bashir (Ahmed), Akbar (Hoffman), Keanu (Pinder) – we made it to the Elite Eight last year, and after it was over, those three made a pledge to get past the Elite Eight. Hopefully they made a pledge to get past the Final Four. We played really hard, did a good job breaking the press, did a good job of avoiding unnecessary fouls, it was nice to get everybody in the game.”
On how the large, partisan crowd affected the team …
“I told the guys before the game there was going to be a good crowd, but they aren’t going to make any noise if you don’t do anything. You have to give them something to yell for. Maybe the early start hurt attendance a little bit, but I want to thank everyone who came out. We played well in the first half, passed the ball well, we guarded well. We held them under 40 pts in the first half, under 40 percent shooting.”
On getting 52 combined points from Haynes-Jones and Juiston …
“They competed well, I always tell my players that we are going to compete, that’s our M.O., not to perform, but to compete. Shakur did not have as many rebounds as he normally does, but he snagged 11. I told Samajae last night to play more aggressive, and don’t hold back. Samajae came out, did what he could do, and did something our guards couldn’t do in our last loss. We came out focused and now we have two more games no matter what. We’ve got to stay after it, rest up tonight and get ready to go for tomorrow.
Samajae Haynes-Jones
On playing in front of a big crowd …
“You know there was a lot of people here, the crowd was crazy, I just try to come out and compete as hard as I can for my team, and for everyone that was here. The goal is to keep winning so we need to come out and compete as hard as we can.”
On playing in the national tournament after growing up in Wichita …
“It’s a blessing to play here and to play for Coach Eck and HCC. I was going to come here and give it all that I got, and try to make it to the next level.”
On scoring a career-high 33 points in the national tournament …
“I didn’t know that I had 33, I just came out here and competed as hard as I could.”
Shakur Juiston
On his performance against Northwest Florida State …
“Yesterday, I wasn’t 100 focused, everything that I put up seemed to be rimming out, and I was getting down on myself. Today all the guys on the bench encouraged me to keep my head up. I don’t see myself as the next NJCAA freshman of the year; I just want to contribute to my team.”
On going 9 of 11 from the field …
“I feel that I just came out real focused, in shootaround, focused on shots I would make in game.”